Eating out has taken on a whole new meaning.

"Sure I eat pussy. I also eat fingers, toes and an occasional leg," says Mike, a self-proclaimed cannibal. He is one of a handful of people who practice anthropophagy, the derivation of sexual pleasure from eating human flesh.

"It wasn't that I was hungry," says Joey, another cannibal. "I just wanted to see what it would taste like." Joey runs alt.anthropophagy, which boasts tons of recipes, refrigeration techniques, and tips on getting rid of the smell.

Nibbling on an ear during sex is similar to an orgasmic appetizer. Practicing fellatio can be a little dangerous for those involved with a meat-hungry cannibal. The urge to bite is common and can be one of the first signs of being involved with someone who loves flesh a bit too much. Cannibals have a hard time finding willing sexual partners, and once they do, the unions don't last long. Pairing up with amputee fetishists and others into supreme body modification often solves these problems.

"My first girlfriend liked to be bitten, but when I took a chunk out of her thigh she took off," Says Mike, who often finds himself lonely but enjoys the community of alt.anthropophagy. "I've been compiling a list of cannibalism in movies," he says. "It's much longer than you may expect." For Mike and his cannibalistic buddies, movies such as The Silence of the Lambs are as titillating as Debbie Does Dallas is to a frat boy.

According to anthropophagists, eating human meat is akin to a superior orgasm and has even been known to make someone leave their body. Similar experiences have been documented among the Tibetan Mungaso tribe, who practiced ritual cannibalism as a way to get closer to their fellow men. Magical states and psychedelic highs comparable to mescaline or peyote were reported.

Cannibalism may seem horrifying, but its proponents claim a long line of historical precedent: the Donner party, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Mike Tyson, for instance.

Members of the anthropophagy community, while interested in keeping their identities a secret, claim many compatriots in the high-stress world of Silicon Valley. In a society that touts survival of the fittest as a mantra, cannibalism seems a likely effect. Says Joey, "It's a dog-eat-dog world. Is man-eat-man really any surprise?"

Cara Bruce is a Senior Editor at GettingIt. She will nibble on your ear.